BHUBANESWAR: Congress’ mission of ‘nine to 90’ may have failed miserably in the state, but the party has saved itself from complete decimation by winning or leading in 14 Assembly seats and holding on to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Koraput.
Amidst the BJP sweep, the massive lead of over 1.47 lakh established by party candidate Saptagiri Ulaka has come as a solace for the Congress. In a triangular contest in the Koraput LS seat, Ulaka polled 4,71,393 votes against BJD’s Kaushalya Hikaka who received 3,23,649 votes and 2,32,514 votes secured by BJP’s Kaliram Majhi.
The good news for the party is that Sofia Firdous, daughter of former MLA Mohammed Moquim won from the Cuttack-Barabati seat by defeating her nearest BJP rival Purna Chandra Mohapatra by a margin of 8,001 votes. The party seems to have kept its base intact with senior leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati winning from the Jeypore Assembly seat against Indira Nanda of the BJD by a margin 13,111 votes.
Congress candidates have won from eight seats in Gajapati, Rayagada and Koraput districts. In Sanakhemundi, sitting MLA Ramesh Chandra Jena defeated Sulakshana Geetanjali Devi of the BJD by 10,662 votes while Dasarathi Gomango won against Prasanta Kumar Mallik of BJP in Mohana by 4,059 votes.
The party candidates swept polls in Rayagada district with Nilamadhab Hikaka and Kadraka Appala Swamy winning from Bissam-Cuttack and Rayagada seats respectively. Similarly, former MLA Ramchandra Kadam won the Pottangi seat while Pabitra Saunta, a new face, bagged the Lakshmipur seat. Party candidates Mangu Khila and Satyajeet Gomango also won from Chitrakonda and Gunupur seats respectively. Besides, Sagar Charan Das, son of campaign committee chairman Bhakta Charan Das won the Bhawanipatna seat.
However, stalwarts including president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak and campaign committee chairman Bhakta Charan Das have been defeated by their BJD counterparts from Nuapada and Narla Assembly constituencies. Former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik also lost to Sanjeeb Mallick of the BJD from Bhandaripokhari seat by a margin of 1,551 votes.
The vote share of the party, however, dropped from 16.12 per cent in 2019 to 13.32 per cent in this election even though more party candidates tasted success.